NOM spins RI: Refusing to sip from half-empty glass = 'Who said your gay butt could have a glass?'

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04/29/2011

by Jeremy Hooper

This headline sums up the false equivalency that the National Organization For Marriage wants you to accept, with the idea being that neither side is willing to compromise:

Both [Marriage Equality Rhode Island] and Catholic Church Oppose RI Civil Union Bill [NOM Blog]

DON'T. BUY. IT (no matter how cheap)!

Once again we have the anti-LGBT crowd striking the element of marriage from the conversation. They are acting like MERI and the Catholic Church are both taking purely political positions, and simply can't come to terms on the specifics. Like the Catholic Church leadership might be willing to compromise if only those pesky gays would stop digging in their heels. Yada, yada, bullcrap.

The truth, of course: Marriage Equality Rhode Island opposes a civil unions fallback because they know, from experience in states like NJ and elsewhere, that civil unions fail to protect in the same way that marriage does. And since the state can and should pass full marriage equality in this session, there is absolutely no reason to stop short of that, setting up an alternate system that only serves to stigmatize/marginalize a certain kind of couple. Bottom line: MERI staffers, like so many of us, are sick of seeing fair and equal justice delayed because certain, religious-motivated people want gays to be denied.

Which brings us to the deniers: The Catholic Diocese has come out against civil unions because they want gays as fully denied as possible. That is not an overstatement -- the Catholic Church has been simply relentless in this state, launching local marriage tours, filling weekly bulletins with lobbying initiatives, and of course siding with the inextricably Catholic-tied NOM. Not even civil unions are okay, since they see all gay-inclusive rights and protections as constituting a slippery slope that threatens the Diocese's heterosexist marriage of church and state.

There's is not just a differing viewpoint. The Catholic Diocese's position is not the other side of a "let's agree to disagree" coin. Whereas MERI isn't going to compromise because the-tax paying gay and lesbian population's equal protection and due process under the law is not up for negotiation (at least not in the long run), the Catholic Diocese is unwilling to compromise because they want to discriminate as fully as possible. Period. End of story. It's their chosen faith vs. our nation's shared CIVIL rights.

So yea, both camps oppose. But not all opposition is created equal. And if the Rhode Island Catholic Diocese has its way: Neither are all Americans.

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*Oh, and none of us should forget the way NOM's Rhode Island guy, Christopher Plante, has talked about us:

NOM Rhode Island Director Chris Plante